Rules Column: Patti Daskalos

Rules for embedded

ball

Your ball lands in a moveable obstruction. Now what can you do?

If you looked up “obstruction” in a dictionary, the definition is “an item that blocks something else, making it difficult for things to move through.”

That sounds like a pretty accurate picture of obstructions on a golf course. The Rules of Golf also states Obstructions must be artificial objects. The Rules definitions explain there are two different types of Obstructions; movable and immovable. The easiest way to think about the different obstruction types is that movable obstructions are artificial objects that you move away from your ball. By comparison, you move your ball away from an immovable obstruction. This month’s article will focus on movable obstructions.

Movable obstructions are artificial objects that can be moved with reasonable effort; however, those efforts cannot damage the obstruction or the golf course. Things like bunker rakes, benches, golf towels, beer cans, or food packages are movable obstructions. How you take relief from a movable obstruction depends on if your ball is touching, in, or on a movable obstruction.

The Rules allow removal of a movable obstruction anywhere on, or even off the golf course. There is no requirement to mark the location of your ball when moving an obstruction, but I think it’s a good idea to do so. Consider the following scenarios:

George’s ball has come to rest against a bench that is setting off to the side of the putting green. George and Bill can easily lift the bench and move it away from the ball. If George’s ball moves because he has moved the bench, he just replaces the ball on its original spot (if he did mark the ball’s location, the replacement spot is easy to find). In this situation, the rules state to replace THE ball, meaning George cannot substitute another ball. This relief procedure for a movable obstruction can be taken anywhere on the golf course.

Relief is a little different for balls that come to rest in or on a movable obstruction. Bill’s ball came to rest inside a potato chip bag in the fairway. To take relief Bill would note where the ball was at rest on the ground while inside the chip bag. The spot on the ground is used as the reference point. Bill would remove the ball from the bag, then drop that ball (or another ball) within one club length of the reference point, no closer to the hole.

The procedure is the same if the ball is on the bag. This relief procedure applies for a ball in a bunker or penalty area too. If the ball came to rest in (or on) a chip bag on the putting green, Bill would place the ball or another ball on the estimated spot right under where the ball was at rest on the putting green while either in or on the chip bag. Hopefully Bill tosses the chip bag into the trash to keep this from happening to other players.

But what happens if your ball goes into a movable obstruction and you can’t find it? That exact thing happened to Joe. George and Bill were in a group in front of Joe and Betty.

Joe was having a bit of a struggle with his tee shots that day. Joe’s errant tee shot headed straight for a garbage can near the rest room on the left side of the green. He and Betty were both certain that the ball went into the garbage. However, they couldn’t see it in the can. When George left the rest room, he saw Joe and Betty examining the trash bin. George told them as he was walking by to use the rest room, he definitely saw the ball go into the trash. In this case, George seeing the ball go into the can means it is known or virtually certain that Joe’s ball is in the trash. Therefore, Joe gets relief using the same procedure Bill did from the potato chip bag, but Joe uses the estimated point right under where the ball last crossed the edge of the obstruction (the trash bin) as his reference point for his relief.

Good news is that all these relief procedures are free relief!